And I say it's all right
by Pseudonymperson
Summary: Skye and Jeffrey? Well. It's complicated.


1. _Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color._

* * *

Skye lets out a shaky laugh.

"Don't look at me like that."

She can't feel her heartbeat.

"Skye-"

"Stop."

It's not romantic.

"Are you insane?"

"I-"

"You can't just tell someone you're in love with them and then get a girlfriend two weeks after declaring your feelings of affection, however deluded and misplaced they may be."

"I broke up with her." Jeffrey says, in a rush. "I mean, she broke up with me."

And then he's kissing her.

* * *

2. _Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish._

* * *

Skye slaps him. Hard.

"Oh my god." she mutters. "You don't understand, do you?"

Jeffrey shakes his head, wincing slightly.

"I don't want this."

"Sorry." he tells her, with so much sincerity that for a second, she's reminded of Hound.

"It's okay." she sighs, shaking her head.

"We kind of messed up."

"Yeah." Jeffrey breathes.

(The moment's too messy for her to notice the way that Jeffrey's eyes slip to her skin, the way that her breathing's slipping into familiar patterns.)

* * *

3._ I don't exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it._

* * *

"It's my fault." he says, finally.

Skye cracks a smile.

"It kind of is."

"So," she finds herself saying, "what are you doing tonight?"

"Did Skye Penderwick just ask me out after slapping me for kissing her?"

"We're going out, yeah. As friends." she says, emphasizing the word "friends".

"Friends." Jeffrey agrees.

* * *

4. _We sit in bars and raise our drinks to growing old_

* * *

They go to a bar that doesn't check ID and get so drunk that they're falling over each other trying to act like themselves.

"Is there an airport near here or is that just my heart taking off?" Jeffrey slurs in response to Skye's "Boston is weird."

They make it out of the bar alive (despite Jeffrey's tendency to perform musical numbers when intoxicated) and Skye thinks she's never been happier to see the stars.

* * *

5. _there were times we forgot to wind up your alarm clock_

* * *

Skye wakes up with a headache and Jeffrey wakes up with a tattoo of a bull, but all things considered, it's not as bad as it could have been.

"It's the weekend." Jeffrey muses.

"We should go sightseeing."

"No." Skye groans.

"You made me get a tattoo, so you owe me."

"I was under the influence of alcohol and can take no responsibility for my actions."

"Please?"

"Still no."

"Whatever, we're going."

* * *

6. _Listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go._

* * *

So far, they've seen Paul Revere's house and a couple of "historical" buildings (some have gift shops attached, and Jeffrey buys postcards at every single one of them. Skye finds a lighter with the British flag on it and threatens to set his hair on fire.)

* * *

_7. It is so much safer not to feel, not to let the world touch me._

* * *

The sun is setting and Skye isn't scared of haunted old buildings like Jeffrey is, so she ends up giving him a lecture on vital phenomena that happen to be completely unrelated to any type of "paranormal" activity. All in all, it's a pretty terrible way to spend half an hour.

* * *

8. _Let us pray for the courage roaring in your colosseum chest, that it stays hungry and that it wins_.

* * *

By the time they get back to Jeffrey's dorm room, Skye's really tired and really doesn't feel like talking. Jeffrey, however, seems to how an infinite amount of energy that she's sure she'll appreciate later. Just not right now. Okay, that sounded really gross. But the point still stands.

"We need to talk."

"What, are you breaking up with me? Oh, right, we're not actually in a relationship, nor do I wish to be in one. So. What?"

"That may have been what I wanted to talk about you with."

"May have been?"

"We could talk about the weather instead."

"Great idea."

* * *

9. _I'll be your slaughterhouse, your killing floor, your morgue and final resting, walking around with this bullet inside me 'cause I couldn't make you love me and I'm tired of pulling your teeth._

* * *

Skye's pretty sure they're just friends.

Except when they're not.

* * *

**Italicized quotes are from the following sources.**

**1. Maggie Nelson, Bluets**

**2. JD Salinger , The Catcher in the Rye**

**3. Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters**

**4. Sam Smith, Leave Your Lover**

**5. I Remember, Anne Sexton**

**6. Sylvia Plath**

**7. e.e cummings**

**8. Caitlyn Siehl, What We Buried**

**9. Richard Siken, Wishbone**


End file.
